The unholy matrimony of PopCap and Blizzard continues with a "Peacebloom vs. Ghouls" minigame found in the newest World of Warcraft expansion.

Last year at BlizzCon, I noticed that the movers and shakers at Irvine-based PC developer Blizzard seemed more than a little fond of PopCap's brilliant Plants vs. Zombies. As it turns out, Blizzard's love for PvZ extends far enough for the developer to essentially recreate the puzzle/tower defense game in World of Warcraft.

The above video details a new minigame found in the Hillsbrad Foothills, where players are asked to defend a farmhouse from remnants of the undead Scourge. Instead of using swords and sorcery this time around, though, you're using ... plants.

Yes, the quest is called "Peacebloom vs. Ghouls," and its influences are, shall we say, more than obvious.

Even if the minigame only has five different types of plants, from what I can see, this WoW-ized version of Plants vs. Zombies is incredibly faithful to PopCap's original - so much so that it's not unreasonable to think that PopCap actually had a hand in creating the thing. Given that the two companies have worked together before (with a WoW-themed version of Peggle and official PopCap-produced Peggle and Bejeweled addons), it's likely that PopCap was at least on board as a consulting partner.

And yes, after you've beaten the quest there is a repeatable version - complete with Achievements. Oh Blizzard and PopCap, why must you tempt me so?

The only thing worse would be if they mixed it with Minecraft. And then Puzzle Quest. And then the Escapist forums. And then TV Tropes.

Hell, just adding in Minecraft would be cool. WoW needs a lot more customization in it, and hell, maybe adding Puzzle Quest would add more variety to the end-game (i miss Karahzans chest event...), and with the Escapist Forum, at least there would be more of a community than what I've seen.